Mental Illness: Case Study

The Type of Mental Illness That Louise Experienced Over the Years

From the facts in the case study, it is evident that Louise has been suffering from a mental health illness. According to (), mental illness referrers to diseases that result to behaviours and or thoughts disturbances ranging from mild to severe and as a consequence leading to the incapacity to handle ordinary demands and routines of the patients' life. Presently, there over two hundred mental illnesses although the common types include bipolar, disorder depression, schizophrenia, dementia, and anxiety disorders. Accordingly, mental illness patients suffer symptoms like social withdrawal, changes in personal habits, personality and mood. Further, mental illness is also attributed to excessive stress due to exposure to certain situations like a reaction to genetic factors, environmental stresses, biochemical imbalances, or a merger of these factors.

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As such, from the symptoms displayed by Louise, it is evident that she could have been suffering from various types of mental illness. For instance, she could be suffering from anxiety disorder because of the low self-esteem and the sleeping problem she experienced. Further, It is also possible that she had bipolar disorder given the sudden shift in her mood, activity level and her inability to do her daily tasks. Another possible condition is schizophrenia since she reported to having experienced symptoms like her behaviour and way of thinking, and the fact that this condition has a high preference for people in adolescence and early childhood (Stranges et al., 2014).

Reasons Explaining Why Louise’s Case Took Longer to Be Diagnosed as Bipolar

According to many mental health experts, it is difficult to diagnose bipolar disorder given the numerous symptoms that are similar to those of other mental illnesses. For example, conditions like borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and even cases of drug and alcohol abuse share their symptoms. Further, given the age of the patient (teenage and early adulthood), it is expected that symptoms like changes in their mood as well as failure to attend to the expected tasks can be argued to be acts of a person seeking attention. Also, for borderline personality disorder, the patient is unable to control their emotions (mood swings) and issues of self-image/esteem which causes relationship problems. In the case of Louise, it is clear that her symptoms started to manifest at an early age of fourteen and her current age is twenty-five. As such, mental health experts may argue that at this age she is simply seeking attention or is cautious about her self-esteem.

To this end, the many overlapping symptoms of most mental illnesses confusemental health experts leading to the accurate diagnosis especially of bipolar difficult(Anderson, Haddad and Scott, 2012). Besides, most of these mental illnesses may at times coexist, and even their treatment may be close- antipsychotic medications, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, as well as psychosocial treatments and psychotherapy (Anderson, Haddad and Scott, 2012). Also, given that depression is the common form of mental illness mental health experts may start with the treatment of this condition before proceeding to other types of mental illnesses. In fact, it is observed that approximately half the patients with bipolar disorder consult not less than three consultant psychiatrists before getting a correct diagnosis. Also, similar to Louise's case, nearly a third of patients with bipolar conditions receive an accurate medical opiniona decade or more after seeking treatment.

Different Views on the Nature of Mental Health and Mental Well-Being

The case of Louise is proof that mental health and mental wellbeing is a complex issue that needs closer attention from the government and mental health experts. The challenge of misdiagnosing a mental health condition must be addressed to allow patients to recover fully or to be able to live with their conditions with minimum disruptions. More so, the various misconceptions regarding certain symptoms especially among teenagers and young adults like extreme mood changes and depression need to be equally addressed. Extreme mood swing should be taken seriously and effective intervention taken by the attending physician or the consulting psychiatrist (Bragg and Atkins, 2016). Although regarding depression experts will often diagnose and give treatment through antidepressants and sleeping pills as a way of reducing stress levels, accurate diagnosis of the various types of mental conditions must be facilitated. Accordingly, this will help more patients not to reach extreme points like suicidal feeling which often results from inadequate diagnosis.

Conclusion

In the UK one in every four people experience a mental health problem annually, policies must be put in place to improve mental wellbeing in communities as well as in creating public awareness on mental health (Bragg and Atkins, 2016). Further, patients with mental illnesses are highly stigmatised and discriminated even within mental health institutions/facilities (Mantovani, Pizzolati and Edge, 2016). Besides, most of them do not understand their conditions while at the same time they may have poor access to services. For this reason, most mental health cases end up with suicide and hence this social and health issue needs to be urgently addressed.

Bibliography

Anderson, I. Haddad, P. and Scott, J., 2012. Bipolar disorder. BMJ, 345, e8508-e8508.

Bragg, R. and Atkins, G., 2016. A review of nature-based interventions for mental health care. Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number 204. London: England, 1-65.

Mantovani, N. Pizzolati, M. and Edge, D., 2016. Exploring the relationship between stigma and help-seeking for mental illness in African-descended faith communities in the UK. Health Expectations, 20(3), 373-384.

Stranges, S. Samaraweera, P. Taggart, F. Kandala, N. and Stewart-Brown, S., 2014. Major health-related behaviours and mental well-being in the general population: the Health Survey for England. BMJ Open, 4(9), e005878-e005878.